Serbia’s vehicle market in September 2023 grows for the second consecutive month after falling 2.2% in July, reporting 2,150 vehicle sales (+5.6%). YTD figures at 22,958 are up 3.4% from the previous year.
Market Trend and Outlook
Serbia’s economic growth slowed in the first half of 2023 as decelerating private and public investment as well as elevated inflation hurt consumption and weighed on economic activity. In fact, economic growth is expected at 2% by the end of this year, with risks to the outlook tilted to the downside.
This is reflected in the current trend in the Serbian vehicle market which grew for the second consecutive month in September 2023 after falling 2.2% in July, reporting 2,150 new vehicle sales (+5.6%). YTD figures at 22,958 are up 3.4% from the previous year.
Looking at cumulative data up to September 2023 brand-wise, the leader Skoda reports a 7.9% growth in sales while holding 21.0% market share, followed by Volkswagen which gained 81.7%. Renault maintains 3rd position with a 4.6% increase in year-on-year sales.
Fiat falls 2 spots into 4th with 2,005 sales (-36.0%), followed by Toyota at 1,859 sales (+22.9%), Hyundai at 1,833 (+15.9%), Kia at 1,749 (+13.9%) and Citroen maintaining 8ths spot with 1,289 cumulative regis90trations (-15.3%).
Dacia falls 5 spots into 9th spot with 1,116 new registrations (-32.1%) and Opel closes the top 10 with 697 cumulative sales (+29.3%).
The Skoda Octavia is the best selling model with a 48.1% increase in volume compared to 2022, followed by the Volkswagen Arteon which grew 59 spots.
Medium-Term Market Trend
In the last decade the Serbian vehicle market fluctuated between the 20k and the mid to high 30k range. In 2011 started a 4 year long collapse that would bring the market from 38,179 sales in 2010 to 19,698 cumulative sales by the end of 2014. Luckily it bounced back in the following year, rising 10.0% in year-on-year volume. Sales continued to grow and the Serbian vehicle market maintained the momentum through 2019, where total volume reached 34,197 registrations, a new all-time high.
The arrival of the pandemic in 2020 caused the Serbian light vehicle market to collapse, with sales falling 23.3% to 26,241.
The downfall was not due to structural issues in the market, in fact it grew back 16.8% in the following year reaching the 30k mark once again. In 2022 the uptrend came to a stop, with total volume falling 5.6% to 28,845. Despite a the positive start to 2023 the market will have to confront a series of issues that put downward pressure on sales: like the disruption of global supply chains caused by a lack of raw materials that has induced an overall increase in vehicle prices.
Tables with sales figures
In the tables below we report sales for all Brands and top 10 Manufacturers Group.
